Powercut
by MeowingWolf
Summary: It started out as an electrical fault. Now Lara Small and a bunch of other 15 year olds are running around with a fictional Assassin in a crazy quest to get him back to his home- seems easy enough, right? Summaries Suck.
1. Chapter 05

**(A/N Hey there... haven't been writing that much recently... I don't know. Ha. Anyway... this little thing is just going to be a stupid little side project for whatever else I'm doing. This is my first ac fanfic (which may be flawed as I have only played one of the games. (ac2) then again, you can pick up a lot from the internet huh?)... It's unoriginal and stupid by the way. Our lovely jubbly main character is based sort of on myself... well, she's more like me improved version of myself, actually... less scared/anxious/shy ect ect... more like who I wish I could be ||D Oh and also sorry if I mess up on tense. Hehe.**

**The school and her friends are also based off real people. Ta-dah. Anyway... try not to be too harsh on crit (which I know I will probably get. Most AC fics are pretty epic... let's use Masquerade by Altair'sFan123 for example. One of the best fics I've read, go read it now if you haven't), I know it helps, but try be gentle, mmk?... wow, this is a long A/N)**

Well I had better start off with a small introduction. My name is Lara Small (which is stupid because I'm actually quite tall... I'm also a poet, apparently) and I'm a weird 15 year old human-like creature from the land they call England. My parents call me tomb raider, not just because my name is Lara, but also because I _adore_ gaming, alongside drawing and gawping at big cats. My ps3 (no matter how many yellow lights or _swordfights_ it gets me into) is like my baby... but don't tell anyone I said that.

Most people would walk straight past me and think nothing of me. But holy shit, I've been to hell and back thanks to my 'baby'. Well at least that's what I think at the moment. Maybe there's more behind it than a just a great big glitch... I know they say in the adverts, "Playstation 3 – It only does everything" But this is just stupid.

Interested are you? Well I guess I had better take things from the start.

It's an average British Sunday... cold as a polar bears foot, damp as a soggy fish, and dark as any night for most of the time. At least I don't live in London, so there's not so much pollution to worry about here.

I sit on the sofa in my beige-carpeted livingroom, with my elbows on my knees and my chin resting on my hands, watching raindrops slide down the window, naming them as they went by before watching them glide down to their deaths. I had got a neat little story made up when my mother's voice interrupted Jeff's moving speech...

"Bored?" She says.

I nod, grumbling a little. Everyone is bored as shit- just lying there waiting to be scooped up. It's not even funny anymore. I let go of my chin and press my back up against the sofa, sighing.

"Why don't you go play on the ps3 for a bit?" Mum suggests in that weird forceful tone she puts on sometimes. My eyes light up a little bit, and I heave myself onto my feet, my knee clicking from being in one position for so long. Without replying I jog up two flights of stairs to my mum's room, which has one of two ps3s in it- along with a rather nice green-and-black gaming chair, it vibrates and everything.

Now a bit happier to get back to gaming, I turn on the ps3 and pick up one of the many cases lying next to the tv, on my knees with the controller in one hand. I happened to pick Assassins Creed 2 from the bunch.

You don't get how much I love that game. I mean, what's better than running around Italy as a sexy Italian assassin kicking ass and climbing everywhere? Yes I do have a crush on Ezio... I'm not a rabid fan-girl who randomly pictures him naked though, I'm not THAT bad... jeez! My friend went around and told everyone once. Luckily, nobody has said anything to me yet about my stupid little relationship with a fictional character... anyway... he has Rosa (along with a million other girlfriends) right..?

I go onto my profile and click to start the game. There's that lovely white loading screen and I'm off in the animus again. I had made a new game recently, and it was saved just before I had gone to attend the hanging of Ezio's brothers and father... it makes me sad every time I see it. Ezio seriously needs a hug or something. He's been through a lot.

Anyway, I click to load that profile up, and there's an odd pause. The animation is still moving, and that dark, quiet animus music is still playing, but I can't move or do anything. Angrily, I press just about every button on the controller in a stupid attempt to get it working again, narrowing my eyes in frustration. It stays like this for about 2 or 3 minutes with me getting worked up as hell as it stubbornly refuses to load. Then there's a sudden loud popping noise.

I flinch as the screen goes black and an odd whirring noise buzzes around my head. Growling with annoyance, I stand up and go to open the door to see if the whole house has had another friggin' powecut. My mums whinging about it, and my Nan is stating very loudly that the whole house has lost electricity when it's pretty obvious anyway.

Sighing, I make my way downstairs.

Luckily my dad was home. He knows about electricity and stuff, so he knew where to look. When he opened that weird box thingy with the wires and stuff in it halfway up the wall in the hallway, I was sitting in the livingroom alongside my brother. There was another loud pop and a sizzling sound as he opens it, making me flinch again.

"What was that love?" My mum says, coming out of the kitchen. I peer out the livingroom door to see what the hell is going on, and immediately a horrible frying smell hits my nostrils. It smells like someone has just stuck a pig between two wires and zapped it into crispy bacon- not my favourite meat in the world, unfortunately.

My dad's face is the perfect definition of "WTF?". I don't think anyone has any idea what has happened at all. Nor do I. Hopping off the sofa,I walk up to my dad and mum to see what they are gawping at... and find that every single one of the wires in that electricity box thing is toasted to a crisp.

Toasted. To. A fucking. Crisp. Seriously. They almost looked like they used to be something edible... like a really long crisp or something. They certainly smelled edible. My dad almost looked hungry, funnily enough.

A little bit of conversation goes on between my mum and dad, whilst I walk off and cower with my brother in the living room again. He's equally as paranoid as me. God knows what's been going on in the electricity. My mum is a bit freaked out as she talks to my dad about what the hell could have happened, and my Nan trudges off to talk to next doors (and the next and the next... nosy bugger) - they've all been fried too, apparently.

Little did I know this first little event was just the start.

**(A/N fff... I know it's confusing at first. No ac yet either. This isn't exactly a chapter, I don't think... more like a little intro. I shall christen it chapter 0.5 ;D)**


	2. Ghost busters!

**(A/N Hello thar :P**

**Thanks for the reviews, guys! I'm going to try put your suggestions into action in here, hopefully. Those little suggestions help me out loads, you know? Not much to say, apart from that... there's nothing to say, lol? Read and Review :P )**

We had no electricity for ages. After half of the street had called up a million different electricians to look at the damage, they decided that the majority of the wires and stuff will have to be completely torn out and replaced. Not even the trained specialists knew what could have happened- apart from the whole streets electricity had been burnt to a crisp in a matter of seconds.

In the end, the scale of the damage had become so large that people even decided (or at least considered) to move house. The damage would take ages to repair- weeks, months... not to mention it would cost loads.

Coping without electricity had become a nightmare. All of the food had defrosted, all of the entertainment was down, and cooking meals on a night became a huge task... at least it was never too cold... Summer would be when the real problems began when storms rolled in and the heat grew to unbearable.

Personally, I wanted to move _somewhere _else and get this crap over with. But my parents forced me to stay. We continued living as close to normal as possible while people knocked down our walls and replaced everything. I was surprised that there wasn't some sort of riot about this. It was ridiculous.

Then suddenly, one day, one of those electricity men came into our livingroom- and flicked the switch. The lights flickered on, and everyone gasped as if they had never seen electric light before... you don't realise what you have got until you have lost it, eh?

"Hope that's good enough for you... must'v been terrible, coping without electricity." Meanwhile, I'm just gasping at the ceiling, looking like a moron...

Before long, the telly is on, the cooker is on, the lights are on, the heat is on, and were all happy bunnies again. It feels like paradise being back in a nice, warm house after all of that bacon nonsense... I wonder if this is what it feels like for arctic explorers when they have just come back from a long trek through spiralling blizzards and encounters with polar bears... minus the walking.

After this, life goes back to normal.

Almost.

The Monday following the return of the electricity, I awake in my warm, warm bed, and flail around wildly searching for the light- then I realise that my mop of dark-brown hair is hanging over my eyes, all knotted and messy. My mum says I should get it cut- it goes almost down to my waist... but I don't think I suit it short. I don't want to look odd or anything.

After getting dressed and brushing my teeth (and hair... just not with the same brush...) I frolic off down to school, contented as ever. As normal, I wait for my friend Josie by the bench near the bushes next to the maths block. The grey ground is painted with random shapes of yellow and blue and green and stuff, and out of boredom, I look at them and try to spot familiar shapes.

"Hey Lara!" I flinch suddenly, but then realise its only Josie. She's quite a short kid, with short, dark hair to match and grey eyes- and she's a liiiiitle bit of a weeabo. Not a full blown weeaboo, but a weeaboo nonetheless... I wish she could like better animes though. The ones she likes are either yaoi, or just crap... Ill shut up.

"Ciao, Josie" Yes I do use Italian words thanks to Assassins Creed. I don't spam my sentences with them though. And at least I pronounce them correctly. I aint' no Italy weeaboo. Ha. Italy weeaboo... OK ILL SHUT UP ABOUT WEEABOOS ALLREADY!

She already knows about the electricity problems at my house. I don't think she really has that much sympathy for me though... not that I am an attention seeker or anything. We have a little conversation before the bell goes and we go into tutor, then onto our first lessons.

I have maths and English, which is pretty boring. I usually like English, but we were having to write some ridiculous essay about some book or another. I don't even like it. It's about this kid some hundred years ago who becomes an actor for some of Shakespeare's plays or something. It's not even mildly interesting.

Then, its break time. I pop off to the canteen and meet three of my friends there- Lucia is the first to approach me, with that I'm-seriously-holding-back-a-smile expression on her face. I hate how familiar we are sometimes- she has a longer face than me and straighter hair but still... we share a lot of qualities.

"Eeeedwarddd" She jokes. It all sort of started on msn where we randomly shared pictures of Edward Elric from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist... I SAID I WOULD SHUT UP ABOUT ANIME!

"'Sup." Joy comes up behind her, smiling. She has curly-ish short blonde hair, and a personality so full of humour it hurts... I realised then that we were all the same height. Ha!

We are all sat down and sitting on one of the white tables in the canteen, when Lucia pulls out a newspaper from her bag and spreads it out on the table, rather unexpectedly. It's a bit random, and I and Joy share glances before looking back to Lucia, confused.

"And what would this be?" I say, one eyebrow raised.

"The white eagle of the school! It's all over the school newspaper!" She sounds really excited, and her eyes are lit up like its Christmas morning. I'm still confused with a dumb expression on my face, but Joy has already picked up the newspaper and has begun reading it out loud, her voice growing with interest and lowering in volume the further into the article she reads.

"On Sunday last week, reports have come from the teachers of Merignang **(A/N that's my schools name mixed up!)** school. Reports say that a mysterious figure has been seen around the school grounds, often appearing for a short while before disappearing again. The teachers looked around to see if it was just a student causing trouble, but the figure always evades them before being caught. Police were called in to take the investigations further, but found no evidence of this mysterious person- apart from a short black and white CCTV video clip of the white figure, too blurred to make out who it is.

The school has been left open, but security has been taken up a level to ensure nobody else breaks in the grounds... or is it a person? Ghost investigators have been going undercover in the school to see if the figure is actually a ghost, maybe even of a former student, killed by a train near the school itself. The figure has been nick-named 'the white eagle' for its swiftness and white colour... read more on page 6"

"Lara, you believe in ghosts don't you?" Joy folds the green-tinted newspaper in half and hands it to Lucia, who seems itching to say something.

"I say that we try solving this for ourselves!" Lucia suggests, leaning inwards, eyes still all aglow. She chuckles at her plan. I can't help but grin a little- It would be exciting, stalking around the corridors and dodging teachers, searching for a mysterious ghost...

"Yeah!" Me and Joy say in almost perfect sync. Lucia raises her hand, and so do me and Joy- and have a great big group high-five. I really need to cut my nails, because I scratched poor Lucia!

"Ow! Ohmygod what was that for?" She laughs, flapping her injured hand wildly. Me and Joy chuckle along with her. When it dies down, I decide to start the plans...

"So... how about we bunk next period?" I clap my hands together devilishly. "We all have another maths lesson next... which we can miss..."

"Were gunna have to dodge Student Support..." Lucia points out, shrugging.

"Miss Joss..." Joy shudders at the thought. Not one kid would dare get on the wrong side of that woman...

"Oh come on, It will be great fun!" I almost shout it in such a horrible, emphasised tone, it makes me cringe now thinking about it. A few heads turn and I wilt a bit as I feel eyes burning into my back... teenagers are nosy creatures...

"Let's do it then!" Lucia puts her hands down on the table and stands up. "Let's go get this ghost!" As she stands, Joy swiftly reaches into Lucia's bag again and whips out the newspaper, flicking to page 6 and scanning through the print.

"It says the white eagle was last sighted near the picnic area, climbing the wall... wow. He's pretty fit." Joy murmurs the last bit under her breath, and Lucia punches her playfully in the shoulder.

"Were looking for a ghost you know!" I remind her, still smiling. The excitement was bubbling up in my stomach and drowning the nervous butterflies. This was going to be a great laugh.

"So we best look around the science block and..." Lucia pauses.

"Miss Joss's hut?" Joy suggests. Miss Joss is the meanest, strictest, loudest, and strangest teacher in the history of teachers, short, chubby, and the tiniest bit scary- she wouldn't take very kindly to three keen ghost hunters creeping around during lesson time. An after school detention and a good scolding would be the price for getting caught... plus, there would be no more Assassins creed for me...

The bell goes suddenly, and Lucia gives an almost solemn nod as the other people walk out around us.

"Its gunna be great fun! Were gunna catch this ghost no matter what!" I try to reassure my companions. The happy mood returns, and we gallop off, laughing quietly in anticipation as we set off.

We walk around like ninjas through the corridors and automatic doors, randomly pressing our backs to the walls and peering around corners. It's crazy fun, feeling like a super spy, dodging the baddies with the guns and stealthily killing invisible enemies. It was funny when we ran into those double doors and hit the wrong one, which ended up with us in fits of laughter.

We were making our way around the huts, creeping around the walls with eyes narrowed and ears listening out for the slightest sound- then there's a click. Like a door turning. A lock unlocking. The door of Miss Joss's hut.

"Get back, get back!" I whisper, bundling everyone down the side of the hut- and into some badly placed gravel. Our feet scuffle in the pebbles and we press ourselves up into the corner where the hut met the wall surrounding the school. A van cast a shadow across us from the springtime sun.

We all stopped breathing as footsteps approached- the familiar slow plod of Miss Joss. We stop breathing. Maybe even thinking. She appears, walking slowly past our hiding place. She pauses, looking at the folder she holds with her.

_Shit! Whatever you do, don't. Look. Here! _I pray silently.

The next couple of seconds pass so slowly. It seems like time has stopped. The only sound is of a nearby bird tweeting. We fell so silent. Dead silent.

Finally, she moved.

We slipped out of the horrible pause, breathing again. We remained in our hiding place for a little bit longer before slowly tiptoeing out again, panting in fear.

"That was fucking close..." Joy straightens herself up, holding her head.

We decided to stay in the picnic area nearby for awhile- it was quite sunny and warm, plus hardly anyone came around here so we were safe from teachers. I knew we were probably being chased by Student Support at this moment, slowly being tracked down by (not really, but almost) super teachers... it just made everything twice as fun knowing danger lurked around every corner.

We went to relax on one of the picnic benches, the warm sunlight on our faces and the calm breeze blowing blossoms across the ground. The tree nearby was already pink with the coming of spring, and the odd bee buzzed above our heads.

Lucia (who's bag seems to hold just about everything we need) pulled out a packet of Jaffa cakes to share while we plotted some more plans and read more of the newspaper... there seemed no other clues leading to his whereabouts. We would have to do the rest of the searching ourselves.

"He could be anywhere by now... and how do we even know he is a he?" Joy said. Lucia was still scanning the newspaper for information.

"That newspaper said that he was only on CCTV for less than a second. Really is like an eagle." I say.

"Ha. He _is_ pretty fit." Joy grins.

"... and in the end we will find out it's an innocent little girl, and you'll be arrested for being a pedo." I joke.

"That's one badass girl then." Lucia comments before scoffing the last Jaffa cake down and standing up again. "We had best get looking again"

"It's just because you like dodging the teachers!" I point out with a laugh, chucking the wrapper and plastic from the Jaffa cakes into the green bin by the bench.

_**CRASH!**_

"Holy shit what was that?" Joy screams at the sudden noise. All of our heads whip around to the source of the sound- behind the blossoming tree.

I see a shadow cast across the ground, and suddenly, my heart begins pounding beneath my chest. There's someone there. And there making one hell of a cacophony.

Lucia and Joy scream in excitement and run away from the picnic area- but then realizing that I haven't moved a muscle, they stop at the entrance and peer round the brick. Lucia flails her hands wildly, while Joy is asking me to follow them and run. I'm just paralyzed. Not with excitement. Not with shock. With realization? I don't know...

The guy making the noise stands and peers out from behind the trunk of the tree. I know that face anywhere. I've seen it plenty of times. And the scar... and the clothes... dear god...

He dashes off over the nearby wall in seconds. My jaw drops to the floor, and my eye is twitching. I know a cosplayer when I see one... and that wasn't a fucking cosplayer...

Lucia and Joy are at my side again, but I am still frozen. I thought if this were to actually happen my reaction would be totally different... but its scarier than what I first thought. "Hey you OK?" Joy asks, slightly nervous. Maybe she thinks I'm joking. But I'm not. I step forwards and swallow deeply, closing my mouth.

"I know that guy anywhere..."

Silence. They wait for me to continue.

"That's not a ghost, guys... that is not a ghost at all."

**(A/N shoddy chappie is shoddy. If you have any suggestions for some changes, then tell me and I will edit this chapter...)**


	3. Disappearance

**(A/N OK...**

**I might rewrite that other chapter. I sort of rushed it wanting to get it out as soon as possible... trust me, I'm going to try really hard to make this chapter much, much better... I hope.**

**I'm going to try take more breaks in writing and take a bit more time to do things OK? It's going to slow updates but hopefully the next couple of chapters will be better quality)**

"Then what is it then?" Lucia asks. I pause, biting the left side of my lip, unsure of how to break it to her. What if my eyes had deceived me and I had just... had a hallucination or something? That ghost couldn't have been... no... It couldn't have... I try to tell myself it's a lie, try to be mature and realistic. It's _obviously_ a stupid, childish misunderstanding- a trick of the light, an illusion. But whatever it was... it was so... _real._

"Oh forget it." I swallow down my shock and try to sound less like some sort of paranoid 6 year old and try keep my worries to a minimum. "It was probably just my imagination again." I'm reassuring myself more than anybody else.

They could believe that it was my imagination. I do have a bit of a wild mind. I sometimes surprise myself with what goes on inside my head- you know, those scenes you make up you know will never happen, the worlds you make, the dreams you have- that's normal, right? There's a whole new world in my head, you know... unless you're a science teacher, in that case your head is full of blood and bone and squidgy stuff.

The bell rings nearby then, making me and my friends jump a little. I sigh as some of the shock leaves my body and slouch over a bit.

"So I guess we shouldn't look anymore." I don't look at her, but I can feel Joy walking over to Lucia on my other side. It's weird how your senses tingle randomly like that.

"Who did you think it was- that you saw as the ghost. I promise I won't laugh." Lucia ignores Joys movements and attempts to talk to me, sounding a bit happier now. I'm still acting like a half-dead flamingo, still trying to process everything that has just happened in the last couple of minutes.

"Really, doesn't worry... but I agree with Joy... lets save the ghost hunting for later, okay?" When I finally raise my head to look at my friends, Joy is gone. poof. Probably off to her next lesson- I don't know what she has, but I assume it must be pretty important for her to just dart off like that without a goodbye. Maybe she just felt the situation was a little bit too awkward to handle and just legged it.

_Unless she has been... been taken... oh shut up with it! It was just... all in your head. It was probably just a retarded cat slipping up or something... _I know 'the ghost' was nothing like a cat, but oh well. It was better than telling myself that the ghost definitely was...

"Aw crap, she's gone." Lucia groans, pulling her bag up her shoulder a little and looking around, just in case Joy is just messing abut and is hiding somewhere. But she's gone all right, to wherever she's going. "Anyway, you OK to go to next lesson now?" Her voice is gently concerned, but still happy as always. I hardly ever see her concerned. She never takes things seriously.

I nod, straightening up a bit and trying my hardest to stretch my lips into a smile. It's obviously a fake one, but if it stops her asking questions, then it's worth it. I tell myself that I might as well go to next lesson- if anything to get the ghost incident off my mind.

"Ok then. Meet me in the library at lunch time, right?" Lucia raises a hand in a wave and begins walking away out of the picnic area through the brick arch in the wall enclosing it. I follow on behind her, (but she is soon gone) my feet dragging lazily through the petals blown across the ground. I don't know why I feel so moody now. Maybe I'm just disappointed in myself.

Breathing another sigh, I walked on to my next lesson with a moody mix of sadness and anger crammed onto my face. I probably look like a really old and ugly pig or something, pink and wrinkly with a squished nose and huge nostrils, because people glance at me as I walk past. I wish they would stop it. I mean, I...

"Excuse me?" Someone taps me on the shoulder and I glance around, my eyes alight with exasperation. "What do you want" I reply rather rudely.

"This fell out of your pocket." The person who tapped me on the shoulder is a young boy about my age. His eyes are piercing blue and he has short, black hair and a horribly gentle voice. I hate boys like this. There always so innocent around girls. Never letting their real personalities shine through. It's terribly annoying when you know the shy kid who sits next to you in science gets detentions every day and is popular for beating up year sevens.

I snatch what he is holding from his hand and ungratefully stomp off into the nearby science block. I don't know why everything is pissing me off so much. I was terrified so much I had been paralyzed a second ago. I go to stuff it back in my pocket, but I pause to look at it when I realize what the small object is, crinkled in my grasp.

It's a small, scruffily folded piece of paper, creased and uneven, almost torn in two from being handled so roughly. I don't remember ever having something like this in my pocket, but then again, I always keep a lot of paper with me to doodle on and stuff. I go to open it, curious, but then the bell rings again, long and high. I must have been dillydallying for so long that I lost track of time.

Rolling my eyes, I put the paper more gently than first intended my pocket and, holding my bag to stop it from whacking against my legs, ran off to my next lesson.

"I heard about the ghost thing"

"You what?" I'm sitting next to Josie in science. Our other teacher is ill, so there's this horrible bald dude with the weirdest shaped ears attempting to teach us from a textbook. The bad men at the back of the room are calling out and fighting, making everyone laugh with rude comments, the girly girls are texting and gossiping, and were just sitting here somewhere in the middle, bored as goldfish. I wish someone could open the blinds and let some of that sun in, because it's ridiculously dark in here.

"Joy told me about it" She sounds a bit nervous now. She knows how easily irritated I am. My voice drops to a raspy whisper as I choke down my anger, and I check that nobody else is listening in with a quick scan of the room and desks around us.

"How much did she tell you?" I ask, worried.

"Just about the white eagle and how you went looking for it and dodged Miss Joss and you..." Josie speaks in a rambling, rolling matter-of-fact way. She pauses, before rushing the last part in an even lower whisper than me. "She also told me you got freaked out because you _SAW_ the white eagle and said it wasn't a ghost or something? I don't know."

I gulp. Damnitt, Joy. Soon the whole school will know about my little moment... after furrowing my brow and narrowing my dark brown eyes, I decide to tell her what I was thinking. Josie is the tiniest bit gullible, and has a bit of an imagination. Maybe she would sort-of believe me...

"Y'know... Ezio? From Assassins Creed?" My voice is so quiet I can hardly hear myself. Josie nods, though. I can't read her expressions, so I have to keep going. I got her into that game in the first place, with my constant ranting about my obsessions. Its a horrible habit I simply can't help.

"The ghost... it looks exactly like him..." I finish, looking like I've just been kicked in the stomach by her. Josie doesn't laugh though, as I expect her too (or comply with my second theory and think this is all a game- before proceeding to make up some ...cough... _flamboyant_ tale she took from somewhere.) She looks confused instead, like I've just told her that I'm actually a pink octopus named George.

"So you're saying we have a mad cosplayer running around our school?" She sounds like she thinks I'm joking, in a nervous, confused sort of way (Put that in your coffee and drink it eh?). It's like when you steal something from someone and then they realize and then look straight at you- and you're unsure of whether to admit or lie. Now I just have images of cosplayers running around the school and going to the canteen and stuff. Ha. Now that would be hilarious.

"No." I swallow, trying to keep my composure. I hate it when people think I'm lying. "He looked exactly like him! I swear it was him!" A desperate expression spreads across my face. Josie looks twice as confused now, her eyebrows slanting at odd angles. I feel like slamming my head into the desk in annoyance a couple of times, maybe even breaking the desk while I'm at it, but instead I just grumble like some sort of pissed obese cat who has just had his food stolen from him- i'm not obese though. Nor am I a fluffy thing with whiskers.

"Hey, I was the one who got you into that game in the first place. I think I know the main character when I see him, hmm?" Worst. Comeback. Ever. Replaying it back in my head now makes me want to slam my head into a fucking brick wall so my nose explodes or something. I sounded so stupid. Josie obviously agreed with me, and began grinning wildly, grey eyes sparkling as much as grey can.

"OK... If you can prove to me your little _crush_..." she emphasizes the last word, carrying it on for what seems to be an age in this sickly, lyrical tone. I feel my face flushing red with anger, and I growl under my breath. I'm usually quite patient- just not with other people. I can wait for people. I can sit here and wait for something to load. I can wait for the end of the world if I want. Just not for a living, breathing human. "...Actually is the white eagle, and is right here, right now, in this day and age... _(oh finally, she's stopped extending that word.) _then... I'll do whatever you want." She sounds so uncharacteristically sure of herself; I feel my confidence shrink a little. It doesn't do anything to help my obviously tomato-coloured face.

"...tomorrow. Ill prove it too you. OK?" I bite my lip, holding back from having some sort of teenage hissy fit and knocking poisonous chemicals everywhere. God knows what shit is in this lab. Josie nods and makes an 'hmph' noise, before finally we change the subject. It's quite one sided- just Josie ranting on about what she did today and how stupid our cover teacher is. I'm too busy thinking about how the hell I'm going to prove to her that Ezio is frolicking about the school.

Most people would _love_ to see their favourite fictional characters, and imagine glomping them to the floor the second they lay eyes on them. But when it actually happens, it's scarier than you would first think- when you know every little thing about them and how dangerous they are and how awesome they are and every little detail about their lives and their futures... it's kind of creepy. And if you did get to know them... knowing that sort of thing would be terrible.

The bell goes for the end of the day, and I say goodbye to Josie and set off home. Once again, the walk home is uneventful- unfortunately though, I can see rain clouds gathering in the distance, threatening to put a stop to the lovely springtime weather we have been having for the last week or so. I sigh softly, dragging my feet across the ground again and hunching my shoulders. I don't care how scuffed my shoes get. I just want to drop down on my bed and forget all that has happened today.

I walk down my own pleasant sub-urban street, buildings rising up on both my sides with small, neat little green gardens poking out of their sides. The grey road changes to pebbles before ending with a brick wall. My house is at the end of the street- just an ordinary semi-detached house made of bricks. I walk through the low garden gate and open the white door. It's unlocked, as always.

"Hey, I'm home!" I call out happily, putting down my bag and blazer by the steps not far from the entrance. Oddly enough, there's no reply. I shrug. _I guess everyone is upstairs doing something _I think to myself. I walk into the kitchen, the door on the wall parallel from the stairs in the hallway. My mum isn't there cooking, nor is my brother stuffing his face. So I walk down to the end of the hallway into the livingroom, the door of which is oddly closed. Nobody is there either.

I decide to entertain myself until everyone comes down and walk over to the TV on one wall of the room. Bending down, I flick on the switch with a click. But there's no red light appearing on the TV. Nothing whirrs or starts up. The whole first floor is silent as the dead. Nothing.

_Don't tell me it's another power cut..._ it was stupid to have another one. Everything had just been fixed up. There should be nothing wrong, it should all be ship-shape and sparkly new. Telling myself it was just the TV playing up, I straighten up and flick on the light switch- nope. Nothing there either. Not even a little flicker of light. My hands curling into fists, I decide to run upstairs like a herd of elephants and see what the hell everyone is doing while the power is out again. They would have probably been downstairs if there had been a power cut. Maybe everyone had gone to sleep or something out of supreme boredom.

I go into my brothers room- nope. The beds unchanged and all is quiet. Same with my own room. And the bathroom. And my nans room- and then up on the third floor it was quiet too. I was starting to get the tiniest bit anxious now. They wouldn't leave and not say anything, would they? Maybe they were just toying with me. Maybe they had just had to pop out in a little emergency? All of the possibilities spiralled in my head, but none made sense.

"Um, Mum, Dad, Dan, Nan, you can come out now!" My voice quivers a little, and I find myself wanting to pinch my arm and check if I'm dreaming. But it's one hell of a vivid dream, if it is one. There's still no reply to my shouts- and I just have to assume that they've gone out. I hop downstairs again and get my phone out of my blazer pocket and quickly navigate the touch screen to phone my mum, just to check. It rings for awhile, but I'm just greeted by that answer phone woman with her toneless, annoying voice. I try phone my dad too, with the same result. The butterflies are having a field day in my stomach now, churning my guts into unpleasant knots. I need another human voice for reassurance, and I go to phone Josie- but just as I am about to press the green phone button, the phone begins to ring by itself.

Its Josie- I wonder why she's phoning me at such a time. I hold the phone up to my ear and I am immediately greeted by a rather feeble, frightened sounding Josie.

"Oh my god Lara, my whole family are gone, just like that, in the blink of an eye. Powers out too. Not a sign of them. Aww help me Lara!" Her voice begins to crack on the last couple of words. So I am not the only one? The fact hits me like a rock in the face and my eyes widen in shock. I have to sit down on the stairs, thanks to my legs shaking and hands quivering... what the hell was going on?

"Josie. The same thing has happened here. The power is all gone. My family is gone too." I try keep my voice steady, but my hands fail to hold the phone straight and my heart is thrumming against my ribcage like a ensnared animal. Josie is sobbing down the phone, but then suddenly, she stops. It's so sudden I swear my heart skips a beat. Josie is a bit of a weird kid. One second she's all happy jolly and then she can completely break down. I don't want her to faint with fear on me or anything.

"...hey Josie, you OK?" I whisper down the phone, almost hesitantly.

"Holy... Ill be right back, OK?"

"Josie wa-"

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep_

I've already been cut off.

I pace around the darkening hallway for what seems like hours and hours, biting back my tears and worry with all of my strength. They would have been back by now- or at least told me something through the phone or left a farewell note. I had already been through enough shit over the last couple of days... now this? It seemed everything was against me, I was alone an-

I feel my phone vibrate in my hand suddenly, and stop walking around like a caged tiger to look at it. Josie is calling me once again, to my relief. I wipe at my bloodshot eyes with the back of my hand before answering her again, with a little tap of the screen.

"Um... Lara?" Her voice sounds cautious and quiet in my ear. She's whispering as quietly as possible and I can hear her breath as if she was standing right next to me.

"What's the problem? Are you OK?" My throat is dry as a bone, so I walk off into the kitchen to get a quick drink. When I open the refrigerator the light is off, but when I reach out and touch a bottle of Pepsi, it is still slightly cold. I go and get a glass from a nearby cupboard and pour myself some, as Josie explains slowly what is going on and why she hung up earlier.

"Um... you know you were going to prove to me... about the ghost... and stuff yeah?" I nod, even though she can't see me.

"Well, when I hung up earlier... it was because... the white eagle was in my garden. It was scary but I went outside anyway to look at it, to see if what you had said was actually true. And... and..."

"And what?" I put the glass to my lips.

"Well... you don't have to prove that the ghost is... that the ghost is him anymore."

"Hmm?" I try and mumble through the Pepsi, but just end up making bubbles. I used to always do that when I was a kid, and usually end up spilling it everywhere. I finally take my mouth away to speak to her, seeing as she's fallen quiet on the other end of the phone.

"Are you just playing with me? Prove it." She probably isn't, with the situation as it is. But I just want to make sure anyhow; maybe she thinks I'm lying?

There's the sound of her mumbling a string of hastily spoken words I can't make out, then there's brief pause of silence before I hear anything else. In this pause, I take another gulp of sort-of cold Pepsi from the cup I still hold in my hand.

Then there's a rather familiar sounding Italian voice over the phone.

"...what the _hell_ is going on here...?"

I spat out my Pepsi all down my shirt.

**(A/N Once again, please suggest how I can improve. Ill rewrite chapter 2 someday, meanwhile I want to get on with the story... thanks for reading. I tried to take more time over this, but I simply have too much inspiration...)**


	4. Sorry

Hello Guys.

I haven't updated in months. That's because I have no muse for anything AC wise. Whilst I still enjoy the games, I have... changed considerably. And now everything has just gone down the drain.

But if you like Fullmetal Alchemist, I'm working on a fanfiction with a similar concept to this one. Thanks for reading.

-Meow.


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